Paris Journal 2015 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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In 2010, in the course of dealing with the estate of a woman who’d recently died, an apartment in the 9th arrondissement of Paris was opened up for the first time in 70 years. That’s right – it had been unoccupied since the eve of the occupation. It’s last resident, an older lady named Marthe de Florian, had been an actress and courtesan – a demimondaine – during the glorious Belle Epoque years. (Marthe de Florian was born Heloise Mathilde Beaugiron in Paris in 1864.) Although her son was living with her when she died in August 1939 (while on vacation in Trouville), the apartment was eventually inherited by her granddaughter, Solange Beaugiron. At any rate, the son evidently moved to a place around the corner. Solange escaped the Nazi occupation and went to live in the south of France. Marthe’s apartment was then unoccupied. Solange’s father died in 1966, but Solange didn’t return to Paris to deal with the apartment even then. However, the apartment’s expenses were paid until her death in 2010. The apartment remained full of Marthe de Florian’s things – many beautiful things, given to her by her “lovers.” One of those things was a portrait of Marthe by Giovanni Boldini (one of the “lovers”). The painting (image below) was authenticated and put up for auction. The experts thought it might bring a few hundred thousand euros. But the bidding went on until the final purchase price was 2.1million euros.
Boldini’s wife had written in her book that the portrait was painted in 1898, when Marthe was just 24. Wait a minute. If Marthe was born in 1864, she would have been 34 then. Could she have lied about her age? I wonder what happened with the rest of Solange’s estate. She reportedly died without heirs. According to an article in Art & Photography in January 2014, the apartment and its contents remain in her estate. Perhaps the proceeds from the sale of the Boldoni are paying for the upkeep of the estate, as well as some lawyers. Marthe’s story is one of those “truth stranger than fiction” tales. Author Ella Carey took advantage of that and wrote a novel based on the discovery of this abandoned apartment. I just finished reading it last night. Ella came up with a great plot to explain why the apartment was left vacant for so long. I’m not going to spoil it for you. You can read the book: Paris Time Capsule. |
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
We dined
at Bistrot d’en Face, on
rue Docteur Finlay, last night. Our main courses arrived before our
starters! All the food was
terrifically good.
The frites de crevettes (shrimp fritters)
starter course. There were actually
five of these in each serving.
Everyone who knows about Bistrot d’en Face orders this starter. The shrimp inside was hot, tender, and
juicy, yet the fritter was crispy on the outside. |
